Psalms 29:2 "Give unto Adonay, "The Name," the glory due unto His name; worship Adonay, "The Name," in the beauty of holiness."
That this should be done is the goal of all things that have occurred in the history of the redemption of the world from the time that Adam chose to disobey G-d - and not to give Him the glory due unto His name. This is the reason for the sacrifice of the soul of Mashiach, "the breath of our nostrils."
In the
RESPONSUM OF R. HAI GAON ON THE TOPIC OF REDEMPTION (Hai Gaon) we can read the following:
"When seven years remain of the years comprising the ‘appointed time’ (הקץ), these will be the years when redemption commences, for the Sages provided an identifying sign for them when they said: ‘the week (שבוע) when the son of David comes ….’ During that week Edom will rule over Israel for a period not less than nine months and no more than three years. This is because Israel can only take sovereignty away from Edom, as Scripture affirms: ‘Edom will have possession; Se‘ir, their enemies, will have possession, but Israel will powerfully prevail. One from Jacob will rule, and he will destroy what remains of the city’ (Num 24:18-19), after Edom has taken sovereignty away from Asshur, as Scripture states: ‘ships will come from the place of the Kittim, and they will afflict Asshur and ‘Ever, and even he will be destroyed forever’ (Num 24:24), after Asshur has taken sovereignty away from the Kenites, who are the Midianites, who are the Ishmaelites, as Scripture says: ‘however Qayin (i.e., the Kenite) will be consumed until the time when Asshur takes you captive’ (Num 24:22). Therefore when we see that Edom has attained ruling authority over the land of Israel, we can affirm that our redemption is beginning, for Scripture declares: ‘deliverers will ascend Mount Zion in order to judge the mountain of Esau, and sovereignty will belong to the Lord’ (Obad 1:21)."
Several things need to be especially noted in this quotation.
- Rabbi Hai Gaon speaks of the final seven years of the waiting period for the son of David to come.
- His definitive texts are Numbers 24:18-19,22,24 and Obadiah 1:21.
- His working premise, (which is irrefutable), is that Israel can only take sovereignty away from Edom, (not from Ishmael or any other nation).
In #1 we observe that the final period of messianic crises, the "appointed time," there will be three primary forces involved, Ishmael, Edom and Israel. And the final struggle will be between Edom and Israel.
In # 2 we can supply the full body of relevant text:
Num. 24:18-24
(18) And Edom shall be a possession, and Seir the conquest of his enemies, while Israel acts valiantly.
(19) One from Jacob shall rule, and shall destroy what remains of the city.
(20) And he looked on Amalek, and took up his parable, and said: Amalek was the first among nations; but his end shall come to utter destruction.
(21) And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said: Though your dwelling-place, is secure and though your nest be set in the rock;
(22) Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted; How long? Assyria shall carry you away captive.
(23) And he took up his parable, and said: Alas, who shall live after God hath appointed him?
(24) But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim, and they shall afflict Assyria, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall come to destruction.
Amalek is from Esau. The victory in the war against Amalek is necessarily the victory of Israel's faith against the evil inclination of the Adamic nature. This is the subject of Revelation 10 and 11. It is the working of the power of the Good News of Israel and Her Messiah Yehoshua.
It is in the consideration of #3 that we come to our conclusion, and this conclusion is that the reference of Obadiah to the deliverers that ascend Mount Zion is a reference to the two witnesses that stand beside Adonay, Adon kol ha-aretz, "the Lord of the whole earth", Zechariah 4:14. These are the anointed ones who will reveal to the world what the seven thunders said, which was sealed up "within John/Yochanan.
The authenticity or accuracy of the responsa above which these observations are based on does not have to be brought into question. The accuracy of the assertion that Israel can only take sovereignty from Edom speaks for itself to anyone who has learned the prophetic import of the Torah.
Since the two witnesses of Revelation 11 represent the fulfillment of the word spoken to Yochanan in Revelation 10:11, "Then the seven thunders told me, 'You must prophesy again in front of many peoples, nations, languages, and kings,'"
(ISV/GW) - and since these are those two anointed ones of Zechariah 4, we are learning that the final testimony that brings Jerusalem to recognize Yehoshua her Mashiach is a testimony that overcomes the sovereignty of Edom and restores it to Israel.
One must understand that this rule over the world of Edom or of Israel is not carnal but spiritual, of the heart, not of the fist. For in the end the heart is the power of the hand but the hand is not the power of the heart; rather the hand is the servant of the heart. We see that in the end it is the nation that rules the heart that rules the world and not the nation that rules with the hand only.
It will be then when Israel rules its heart and recognizes Mashiach her soul that she will rule over the hearts of all nations and at that time Psalms 29:2 will be fulfilled and this is that which is to be accomplished by the thunder heard by Yochanan which was concealed within the body of faith, to be revealed at the time appointed.
